Makis Tracend

Project Managerin San Francisco, California

Ever since I can remember myself I recall refusing to take compliments on anything. It made me feel awkward and my immediate reaction would be "why?". Why am I different from the rest? I had to deconstruct myself and reconstruct what I am through conscious decisions on what I like and what I want to understand how I am different to others. And possibly give an answer to the everlasting question:

Why am I like that?

You can say I was born this way - that my character is the outcome of natural tendencies. Nevertheless, I have come to realize that specific preferences have given me specific characteristics. Electronic music gave me the freedom to think out of the box, video games nurtured the dreamer that escaped to other worlds, maths taught me to rationalize the fact that I will be more times wrong than right... Then again you can say that all these activities were driven by the natural tendency of the person so I guess that's like a never ending cycle...

First time I experienced the Internet, back in the mid 90's - I knew that I needed to learn everything I could about this medium. My mind stopped working for anything else and all studies and professional goals were geared towards satisfying this basic need that had grown in me - to be online. I proudly recollect being thrown out of the uni lab a couple of times for that reason. To my delight things only get better as the years pass and my involvement is to fill in the tiny gaps in online apps that don't seem to be available anywhere else.

I got into psychoanalyzing people while I was growing up because no one was giving me any meaningful answers to my troubling questions. My family always concluded that I just overthink things. So, every new pattern I discovered seemed to be such a breakthrough for me, even if for most people it could be common sense. Of course I ended up going way beyond common sense, seeking the true nature of things and why people are the way they are.

The concept of escaping the boundaries of one's physical existence was always appealing to me. I grew up being a big fan of cyberpunk literature and sci-fi movies - I am one of those geeks that was waiting for the leap to virtual reality. My activity in this environment has more of a recreational focus, trying to create experiences that can supplement, fulfill or in some way satisfy the needs of a normal life.